How to sleep through the night — your three-step plan

Tossing, turning, getting up and pacing in the neon glow of your alarm clock — sound
familiar? If falling asleep has become a nightmare for you, you’ve come to the right
place.

At Women’s Health Network we understand that falling asleep is actually a complex
physiological process that involves intricate coordination between your brain and
body. We stay up too late, working longer and longer hours, endlessly checking our
electronic gadgets. This means that the brain and body often receive mixed signals
about sleep and the crucially important wind-down process that precedes it. You
end up losing sleep or even suffering from insomnia. Over-the-counter sleep aids
and prescriptions may drug you to sleep, but leave you groggy and unfocused in the
morning, perhaps questioning if you’ve even slept at all.

In order to sleep well and wake up feeling restored, the sleep process
should be examined on three levels: environment, mind and body.

Step 1: Prepare your bedroom

When you are making a plan for better sleep, start in the bedroom. Use these tips
to create a comfortable sleep environment, also known as practicing good “sleep
hygiene”:

Keep your room as clutter-free as possible. As a naturopathic doctor, I tell my
patients, in regards to your bedroom and bed, “The bigger the better — give yourself
room to stretch literally and figuratively.”

Step 2: Calm your mind

We get it. ‘Calm your mind’ sounds like a cliché these days and you might wonder
if anyone can really do that. While it’s true that there’s no single quick fix,
following these steps can have a cumulative effect on relaxing your mind. That can
really make a difference, especially if you turn these suggestions into regular
patterns. Try these:

Dr. Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 Relaxing Breathing Exercise

Exhale completely, making a “whoosh” sound through your open mouth.

Inhale through your nose to a count of 4.

Hold the breath for a count of 7.

Release the breath with a “whoosh” from your mouth to a count of 8, exhaling the
stress in your body.

Repeat the above steps 10 times.

The best hours for sleep are between 10:00pm and 6:00am. Try turning off all electronics
between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Televisions, phones, and computers trigger the brain
to release hormones that make you alert. So give yourself 1-2 hours away from this
kind of stimulation before attempting sleep.

Experiment with aromatherapy by filling a lavender sachet and putting it under your
pillow or adding a few drops of lavender or Roman chamomile essential oil to a hot
bath before bedtime.

Make positive sleep affirmations and set your sleep intention. Some examples include:
“I will sleep soundly and peacefully tonight.” “I will get all the rest my body
needs.” “I will fall asleep and stay asleep with no trouble.” “I’m doing all that
I can to sleep well and my efforts will pay off tonight.”

Try engaging in sexual play. You can do this alone or with a partner. Here's a little
nudge that always interests my patients: orgasms produce an oxytocin rush that also
releases endorphins and helps induce sleep.

Step 3: reset your body

This third step involves resetting your body’s natural sleep cycle. Bright artificial
lighting, reduced time outdoors, continual exposure to electronics, and increased
work hours can easily cause your circadian rhythm to shift out of sync. This disturbs
the 24-hour cycle that dictates sleep, wakefulness and other physiological processes.
While it’s not your fault, you can do something about it!

Melatonin. This hormone is naturally produced in
the brain when we are exposed to a period of dim lighting or darkness.
Melatonin makes us less alert and more ready for sleep, but as we get older
(after 40) our bodies make less of it. Supplementing with melatonin brings better,
more dependable sleep to people with insomnia and jet lag, and nightshift workers

Calcium and magnesium. Research shows that low magnesium
is associated with increased anxiety and disrupted sleep. Recently, experts also
found that the ratio of calcium to magnesium is important for lowering anxiety and
stress, confirming that these two minerals are essential for your sleep rescue kit.

Phosphatidylserine. This molecule is found naturally
in the membranes of nerve and brain cells and can also be taken as a supplement
to help calm the “fight or flight” response that can prevent restful sleep.

Sleep-supportive herbs. Passionflower is our favorite
choice for sleep-supportive herbs because scientists believe it naturally and safely
increases the availability of a relaxing chemical made in the brain known as GABA
(gamma-aminobutyric acid). You might also experiment with kava kava, valerian and
chamomile.

Women's Health Network has many options for better sleep. Our phytotherapeutic calming
formulation, Serinisol, has
passionflower, calcium, magnesium and phosphatidylserine to help lower stress and
naturally prepare your body for sleep, without the next-day “hangover” associated
with pharmaceutical sleep aids.

Getting up in the night? Tips for falling back to sleep

It’s actually quite normal for humans to wake up mid-sleep. Prior to the use of
artificial light, people went to bed after sundown, slept for 3-4 hours, woke for
an hour or two, and then went back to sleep for 3-4 hours until sunrise. In fact,
a 1992 study shows that is the rhythm our bodies will naturally fall into if we
don’t use artificial light. The trick is being able to fall back to sleep again.

Stay calm and get back to sleep with these tips:

Leave the lights off and try not to look at the clock.

Go to the bathroom if you need to, then get right back into bed to return to sleep.

If you can’t fall back to sleep within 15 minutes — I recommend that you do not
get out of bed or turn on the light and read because it’s too stimulating. Stay
in bed and snuggle into the blankets and pillows. Begin to breathe deeply and slowly,
gradually relax the muscles throughout your body one area at a time. You might even
use this found time to meditate and calm your mind. You’ll still be resting and
may fall back to sleep more quickly than you imagined.

If you start worrying or planning, write down your thoughts and resolve to think
about it in the morning. You might also try the “4-7-8 breathing exercise” above
to help clear your mind.

Ready? Set? Sleep….

You can find more help for getting to sleep, staying asleep and waking up restored,
with our guided at-home approach to solving sleep troubles. Our
Sleep Reset Program includes melatonin, Serinisol, an e-Guide loaded with
sleep tips and, most important, phone support from our Wellness Coaches right here
in Maine. Give us a call — we’ll get you back to sleep quickly and naturally!

100% satisfaction guarantee — we guarantee
you will be fully satisfied and feel the way you want to feel. If you don’t,
just let us know within 60 days after the purchase of a Program or product and you’ll
receive a prompt refund of your purchase price, minus shipping and handling, when
we receive the product back, even if you’ve taken all the supplements.

No obligation — There is never any purchase
commitment, even if you join our convenient automatic resupply program. You may
cancel at any time by calling us at 1-800-448-4919.

Customer service done right — We have real
women available to answer your calls and e-mails. Plus a great online interface
where you can control almost every aspect of your relationship with us.

Your health and happiness are our mission. If you have suggestions about how we
might improve what we do — with our products and programs, in serving you,
or on our website — please e-mail us at support@womenshealthnetwork.com. If
you want to find out more about our approach, please call us at 1-800-448-4919.
We’re here to listen and help.